Supplement Connoisseurs?

[Orca]

After a long break from horses, I'm not up to date with current knowledge wrt ideal supplements.

Could someone please take a look at this analysis and let me know whether or not it could suit a mare, who will be coming into light work soon, who has soaked hay (and straw) by night and grazing time (variable) most days? She's long term barefoot, with good hoof health.

She's a very good doer, so I'm reluctant to start feeding at all - but I do want to meet her nutritional needs. This nutritional analysis is from a treat based supplement by Equimins and is comparable on most counts to their 'Tip Top' supplement...


Analysis

Quantity

Oil 5.7%
Protein 8.7%
Fibre 3.9%,
Ash 37.6%


Nutrients

Quantity

Vitamin A 500,000 iu/kg
Vitamin D3 125,000iu/kg
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) 6,800 iu/kg
Vitamin B1 310 mg/kg
Vitamin B2 320 mg/kg
Vitamin B6 220iu/kg
Vitamin B12 5.5mg/kg
Biotin 34mg/kg
Pantothenic Acid 520mg/kg
Nicotinic Acid 840mg/kg
Choline 6000mg/kg
Calcium (CA) 8.5%
Phosphorus 4.5%
Sodium (NA) 0.75%
Magnesium (MG) 1600mg/kg
Folic Acid 200mg/kg
Vitamin K 450mg/kg
Zinc 2000mg/kg
Lysine 3000mg/kg
Iron (FE) 6000mg/kg
Copper (CU) 550mg/kg
Cobalt (CO) 50mg/kg
Iodine (I) 35mg/kg
Selenium 12mg/kg,
Manganese (MN) 2000mg/kg
Methionine 3000mg/kg

Thanks in advance for any input

 

[Leo Walker]

Not balanced copper and zinc wise, and has iron which is an absolute no no to me, so I wouldnt feed it.

Cant you feed a powdered supplement in some chopped straw? I use Pro Mineral from Progressive Earth. It works out about £10 a month, and covers the majority of things that would be deficient. He gets a large dose of salt as well.

 

[supsup]

What's the recommended dose for the supplement? I suspect if you look at the mineral levels per dose, it will be less than optimal. To get the daily RDA for zinc and copper, you'd have to feed 200g/day, but then your selenium supplementation would be on the high side, so I suspect the recommended dose is lower. And the added iron is likely not needed, possibly detrimental.
Another point I'd consider is protein. If your horse is on a pretty restricted diet, I'd want to make sure to supplement about 10g of lysine per day (essential amino acid). The treats only have 3g in a whole kilo. Have you thought about the Advance Complete supplement from Equimins? You can get the pelleted version, and could then feed it "neat". The only (small) complaint I have about that one is that the magnesium levels are pretty low, I like to supplement more (which would admittedly be difficult to add to a feed that consists only of a small amount of balancer pellets). Do have a look at the labels, and compare what you get from each per recommended dose.

If you'd be happy to go with a powdered supplement you'd have more options (ProHoof, Equivita...). Depending on how picky your horse is, you could feed that with some grass pellets or alfalfa pellets (which, incidentally would also add some quality protein to the diet that may well be a bit short for a very restricted horse).

 

[Orca]

Thank you both so much

The recommended dose is 350g, so this would make the selenium content higher than the optimum dosage, I think?

I've been researching iron today and I've struggled with conflicting information - thank you for both confirming that it's unnecessary.

Optimum Lysine is not something I'm familiar with, so that info has also been very helpful.

One of the Pro series, Equimins advance complete or Equivita seem the way to go. Advance Complete was actually where I started looking at the Equimins range but was tempted by the treat style option. Feeding to add protein makes good sense